12 IDEAS TO GROW YOUR YOGA ONLINE BUSINESS

By Susanne Rieker

Progress, not perfection, is my new motto. I wholeheartedly believe that it’s more important to move forward, no matter how small your steps are, than to wait for a magical moment in the future when all the stars are aligned and you’ll get your website and everything else done in one big effort. Slow and steady wins the race every time.

To help you move forward I collected 12 actionable items that you can do right now to improve your yoga online business. Dive in and get going!

#1 Shoot a video

Turn on the camera that’s connected to your computer and shoot a video of yourself right now. Talk about anything that comes to mind and that’s related to what you do.

It doesn’t have to be long – 5 minutes is enough. Then upload it to YouTube and Facebook and share it with your social media followers and friends without a second thought.

#2 Thank 5 of your students or clients personally

Get in touch with five of your students or clients and send them a personal thank-you note about how grateful you are for their support. You can phone them, send an email or even a thank you card if you have their postal addresses.

This may sound like a weird thing to help you grow your business, but not only will those five people remember who you are just a little bit more, but one of them may come back and repay you somehow later in the future just for being extra nice. Also going the extra mile to just say thanks to someone for no particular reason can make someone’s day.

It’s good karma all the way!

#3 Host a giveaway

We all love getting gifts! Hosting a giveaway is a great way to thank your devoted audience for their support and can also help you grow your tribe and reach new people. You can use a plugin like the KingSumo Giveaways plugin to set up your giveaway in a matter of minutes.

In terms of potential prizes, it should be something that’s valuable to your audience and that you don’t feel resentful handing out. It could be a free one-on-one session, a spot in one of your retreats, or a trendy piece of workout gear.

#4 Give back to a cause you care about

Giving back to a charity that you care about, attending events, offering your services for free to people who otherwise couldn’t access them will not only make you feel better about yourself, but can also help your business. When your business has heart and soul and strong values, you tend to attract kinder and more loyal customers and fans, and who doesn’t want that?

#5 Get clarity on your purpose – your WHY

Take a moment to ask yourself, what’s the purpose, the cause, or the belief that inspires you to do what you do. If you don’t have a compelling, emotional reason for what you’re doing — meaning if you don’t have a strong enough purpose — there’s a big chance you’ll get frustrated on the way and wanna quit. The more emotion you have connected to what you want, the more power and commitment you’ll have to stay the course and create results.

#6 Add 3 new testimonials to your homepage

Word-of-mouth is one of the best ways to grow your yoga business, so if you have an existing student or client base, start asking for testimonials. Reach out to your most committed students and request 2-3 sentences describing their experiences working with you. Bonus points if you can get a few short video testimonials! Check out this blog post how to get great testimonials.

#7 Create a style guide

A style guide is where you write out the “personality” of your brand, including the colors and fonts you use, the tone you speak in, and the overall feel you want to convey. Without a style guide, it’s easy for your brand to become a little “all over the place”. Here’s an example of a style guide that I created for Wanda Badwal and how I used it to design her website.

#8 Launch your own Facebook group

Your own Facebook page is necessary, but unlikely to bring you a lot of traffic or help you engage with your followers thanks to the Facebook algorithm. Connecting to your audience through your own Facebook group, on the other hand, is a marvelous way to build your network. Facebook prioritizes posts from groups in the feed and you’ll find it’s a lot easier to stay in touch with your tribe without having to pay for ads or boosted posts.

#9 Host a free yoga class or workshop on Facebook live

Use Facebook live to host a free online class or workshop that introduces people to your philosophy and services. It’s a welcome surprise for your audience that they’ll really appreciate. Facebook is rewarding all these brave efforts with more organic reach in your feed – meaning a lot more people see these videos compared to normal posts. On top of that you get the chance to connect to your audience in an authentic and personal way. Total win-win for your yoga business!

#10 Create a content calendar and commit to posting consistently on your blog

Coming up with an inspiring, insightful post every week or month can be challenging, but it’s well worth the energy investment. You need to share free content to build trust, establish you as an expert and also to grow your website traffic. Brainstorm ideas and come up with blog posts for the next 3 months minimum, next put them in your content calendar.

#11 Write a guest blog post

Writing an article for a major publication is a great way to say to the world, “Hey, I know my stuff!”, get new readers and improve SEO. Some popular blogs that accept guest articles are Elephant Journal, YogiApproved and Daily Cup of Yoga.

#12 Sign up as an affiliate partner for your favorite brand

Affiliate marketing is basically the process of earning a commission by promoting somebody else’s product. Let’s say you’re a huge fan of Manduka yoga mats and you recommend them to your friends all the time. You could write a blog post about them and include an affiliate link, so you earn a small commission if somebody buys through your link.